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Nursing student serves externship at Mayo Clinic

Nursing student serves externship at Mayo Clinic

A nursing student at Pennsylvania College of Technology is among just more than 100 from around the nation selected for the Mayo Clinic’s Summer III Nursing Externship.

Stephanie M. Snyder, of Williamsport, Pa., began her externship at the Mayo Clinic campus in Rochester, Minn., on June 3 with an intensive, two-week orientation.

The clinic, which cares for more than a million people from all 50 states and nearly 150 countries each year, offers the employment experience for students between their junior and senior years in a bachelor-degree nursing program.

Each extern is assigned to one of the clinic’s 53 specialty units. Snyder is serving her 10-week externship in the Emergency Trauma/General Surgery unit, where she works alongside a registered nurse clinical coach. She conducts assessments, helps patients with the activities of daily living, assists in procedures and helps to educate patients about their conditions.

In addition to work in her unit, Snyder and other externs attend a variety of classes and observe the surgical intensive care unit, shadow a trauma nurse practitioner, and float in the emergency and operating rooms.

After completing the program, externs may be offered positions at the Mayo Clinic, pending their licensure.

Candidates for the Mayo Clinic Summer III Nursing Externship are selected based on grades, experience, faculty recommendation letters and their answers to essay questions. Snyder is a Penn College Student Government Association senator representing the School of Health Sciences, a member of the college’s Student Nurses Association and a participant in the college’s Presidential Leadership Program.

In addition to the working knowledge she is gaining, Snyder says the experience at a world-class hospital exposes externs to notable figures.

“We get to meet dignitaries and many cutting-edge surgeons who are setting precedent all over the world,” Snyder said.

To learn more about nursing and other academic programs offered by the School of Health Sciences at Penn College, call 570-327-4519 or visit www.pct.edu/schools/hs.